


Elsewhere, Underground

by orphan_account



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Jealousy, M/M, One Shot, Steampunk, badass gogo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 21:53:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3463358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The night before, Hiro had been thrown into the dungeon for programming the King’s personal port screen to scream ‘I smell like doo-doo’ in the middle of a conference. Tadashi had no knowledge of this, but he turned in his tunic for the bland prison uniform and accompanied his little brother because there were few places Hiro went that Tadashi didn’t follow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Elsewhere, Underground

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, I just like making them do things.

Morning light filters in through the barred window like a funeral procession.

Hiro breathes in the stench of cheap fabric softener, the kind that makes Tadashi’s skin blotchy.

He’s starting to be accustomed to this, Hiro realizes. Waking up plastered against his brother in a bed that’s really not suited to hold two people. Warm oats served between the slots of the barred doorway. The feeling that six inches of cold cement separates him from the rest of the world.

His ears ring.

There’s the sound of a door slamming, urgent words whispered between two guards.

“ – the princess. She’s been captured. We have to _move_.”

“We can’t just _leave_ them,” says a deeper voice, and Hiro’s shoulders relax. “King’s orders. It’s against protocol.”

“In about twenty hours, the king’s word won’t mean anything.”

A door slams.

Hiro’s fingers had buried themselves in Tadashi’s uniform. He untangles them and scrambles over Tadashi’s sleeping form.

Hiro wraps his fingers around the bars. “Wasabi! What’s going on?”

“There’s an uprising, little man.” There is a slight twinge of guilt in the guard’s voice. “We’ve been invaded by the armies from across the bay. Some have reported seeing of Princess Tomago among them in chains.”

Hiro’s stomach slams into the floor. All the blood rushes out of his head.

Behind Wasabi, the port screen built into the cement wall sputters to life, casting an eerie glow. The message reads: _ALL AVAILABLE UNITS MUST REPORT TO THE INSTITUTE. PREPARE FOR CONFLICT._

Wasabi’s eyebrows cinch together. “Sorry, that’s me.” He ruffles Hiro’s hair, fishing a ring of rainbow keys out of his pocket and pressing them into Hiro’s palm.

“In case I don’t come back,” says Wasabi.

“No, don’t say that.” It’s a command. As royal prince, Hiro had grown up pulling stupid stunts. The night before, Hiro had been thrown into the dungeon for programming the King’s personal port screen to scream ‘ _I smell like doo-doo’_ in the middle of a conference. Tadashi had no knowledge of this, but he turned in his tunic for the bland prison uniform and accompanied his little brother because there were few places Hiro went that Tadashi didn’t follow.

And Wasabi – Wasabi was probably one of the reasons Hiro hadn’t starved to death. He was the kind man who passed Hiro blankets on chilly nights and steaming mugs of cider. Wasabi was the jailer who unlocked the doors in the morning, a different colored key for each day of the week.

Wasabi grinned. It almost reached his eyes.

“It’s been an honor to serve you. When you’re ready, yours is the light turquoise.”

Hiro’s fingers clench, the keys digging into his palm. Wasabi bows at the waist. One last slam of the door, and Hiro’s alone.

He sprints over to the bed and jumps on top of it, planting a knee into Tadashi’s back.

“Tadashi, wake up! We have to leave!” Hiro grabs his brother’s shoulders with shaky arms.

Tadashi blinks wearily.

“The Orlandians have captured your girlfriend. They’re tearing apart the entire city. We have to go save her from utter peril!” Hiro ignores the stone in his stomach when he talks about princess Tomago, just as he’s been doing since he learned about his brother’s betrothal almost a decade ago.

“Hiro, slow down.” Tadashi’s voice is rough with disuse. His hat has fluttered somewhere on the floor and his hair sticks up in all directions.

And Hiro’s heart skips a beat, because he loves these moments, when his brother doesn’t even look like a crown prince.

Hiro swallows. “Wasabi’s gone, and we – we need to – “ He cuts off. Tadashi’s grinning. Why is Tadashi grinning?

A warm hand encircles Hiro’s bicep. He shivers. It’s been almost a month since the fire, and he still gets goose bumps every time Tadashi’s touches him with his new limb.

Hiro had designed it himself while Tadashi was intensive care. It was easier than facing sympathetic subjects – although he’d almost killed himself, working relentlessly without Tadashi reminding him to eat or sleep or breath.

“Princess Tomago’s been captured by the Orlandians,” says Hiro.

“No, she hasn’t – she’s leading them.” Hiro’s face twists with consternation and his grip slackens.

Tadashi reaches towards his pocket – Hiro has to inch backwards – and retrieves a carefully folded piece of stationary.

Hiro takes it from outstretched fingers and opens it. The paper is pink, covered in stickers of purring kittens and flowing script. It’s a love note.

“It’s in code?” says Hiro, because otherwise Tadashi would have stored it in the bottom drawer of his dresser, cozy beside all the others he’s received over the years.

“I knew you were my little brother.” Tadashi takes the note and smooths it down. He produces a black hexagon the size of a thimble. The device emits a bluish light and a new message sears into the paper.

“I will lead the attack at dawn. Stay safe and out of my way. For the sake of both of our sanities, I hope we never have to meet at the altar. Take care of Hiro. See you soon, GoGo.”

Hiro turns the paper over in his hands.

“Electromagnetic frequency,” he murmurs, a budding respect implanting itself into his unwilling belly. The message fades.

“Yup. Now that the wedding’s off, we have a lot bio-magnolias to return.”

Hiro feels the steady rise and fall of Tadashi’s chest beneath him.

“So the princess is leading a revolution?”

“Yup.”

“And the king will be overthrown?”

“Beheaded, probably.”

“And you’re no longer getting married?”

Tadashi shrugged. “We weren’t feeling it.”

Hiro inhales. Then, he slides forwards, buries his face into Tadashi’s neck, and bursts into tears.

The steady throb that had been aching in his chest for the past few years dissipates. A faucet turns on inside him, full blast, and he’s clutching at his brother, shaking, hiccups hammering through his body. A hand wraps around the base of his neck – the warm touch of metal against skin – and another one buries itself in his hair.

“It’s okay, Hiro,” Tadashi murmurs, his breath warm against Hiro’s ear. Tadashi’s grasp is steady. Hiro feels like a balloon trapped inside a hurricane, and the only thing he can do is ride out the storm.

“He tried to – to k-kill you,” Hiro manages. Sometimes, he feels the scalding burst of heat from when the doors were blown open. He smells singed hair.

“But he didn’t. I’m alright, you’re alright – it takes a lot more than a fiery explosion to separate the Hamada brothers.”

Hiro lets out a strangled laugh. His breathing evens, and his heart beats painfully slow.

“We just need to sit this out, and everything is going to be just fine.”

Tadashi presses a kiss to Hiro’s cheek, just below his temple. Hiro rubs the back of his hands against his eyes. This close, he can ear the steady rhythm of Tadashi’s pounding heart.

Tadashi kisses him on his cheekbone, which must be super gross and salty, Hiro realizes. Hiro runs a thumb over the star-shaped scar tissue at the base of Tadashi’s neck, where a sharp piece of pipe had almost cut straight through Tadashi’s trapezius. Suddenly, the fire feels like it happened in another life.

Hiro lifts his gaze. He presses the point of his chin into Tadashi’s sternum, and Tadashi kisses him.

There’s an awkward clacking of teeth, and Hiro’s lips part.

Tadashi wraps an arm around his waist, laying a palm on the small of his back, and flips them over.

“So you were jealous,” says Tadashi, and Hiro wants to punch that stupid smirk right off his face. Or kiss it off.

“No,” says Hiro, and he feels like he’s three years old again and Tadashi’s asking him about the spontaneous hole in their bedroom wall.

“You swallowed one of the rings!”

“It was a complete accident.” Tadashi leans down and rubs his nose along Hiro’s cheek. Hiro feels Tadashi’s knees pressing against either side of his hips.

“Well, you definitely don’t have to be jealous anymore.”

“Yeah, because you got dumped.”

Tadashi pulls back. “It was a mutual agreement.”

“Did she break your fragile heart? Did you eat a gallon of soy cream?”

Tadashi lunges, tickling Hiro’s ribs so hard it hurts.

“Brave words,” says Tadashi, “coming from the boy who’s tears ruined my only clean tunic.”

Hiro’s face drops. “We are never speaking of that again.”

Tadashi traces circles on Hiro’s cheek with a golden thumb.

“Alright,” he says, and Hiro kisses him.

And with a battle raging everywhere besides their tiny cell, it truly is.

**Author's Note:**

> Whew, what a ride!! I wasn't gonna post this until later, but I got let out of work early today. This is the first installment of a series of AUs I'm doing with these two because AUs rock. Let me know what you think!! Thanks for reading :D


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